By MADDY VITALE
With COVID-19 cases on the rise in the county and the country, Ocean City school district leaders are being proactive in their message to local families that they are strictly adhering to safety guidelines to prevent the spread of the virus. In effort to have complete transparency, they decided to release statistics weekly to keep people informed.
Despite preventative measures, cases are on the rise in Cape May County and there have been cases involving Ocean City students and staff members contracting the coronavirus, Schools Superintendent Dr. Kathleen Taylor said in a statement posted Monday on the school district’s website
oceancityschools.org.
On Oct. 23, Dr. Taylor cautioned families that the district may have to shift to all-virtual learning as the number of COVID-19 cases rise. The Ocean City school district closed on March 16 at the beginning of the pandemic. It was a day before Gov. Phil Murphy’s executive order to shut down schools statewide. The following day, Ocean City schools offered the hybrid learning model, which combines virtual and in-person instruction for students.
This week, the district outlined the latest developments with COVID-19 in the county and in the school district.
“As Cape May County is experiencing a rise in the number of COVID-19 cases, which has placed the county in the moderate risk zone, it is important to understand the definitions of close contact,” Dr. Taylor's statement says.
School Board President Joseph Clark said in an interview with OCNJDaily.com on Tuesday that he, along with Dr. Taylor, felt it was important to post weekly statistics on the district website involving COVID-19.
Full transparency is paramount to the district, Clark emphasized.
“We were hearing in the board meetings a lot of misinformation in the community and we said, ‘Why not have a correspondence out on a regular basis so everyone has what we have?’” Clark said of the new weekly reporting to district families on the school website.
Clark noted that the focus is and has been strictly adhering to health and safety guidelines as per the county, state, and CDC, and also keeping the community informed.
“We are trying to keep everything on track and follow the guidelines that the governor puts out there,” he said, adding that the district also follows safety protocols for school sports.
The overwhelming theme from the district and parents is the hope of returning to school five days a week, he pointed out.
“Hopefully, things will improve. News of a vaccine is promising,” Clark said. “Everybody on the Board (of Education) said at the last meeting that they want the kids back in school five days a week.”
But the return to school won’t happen without the help of everyone involved, he said.
“On the whole, most people are trying. We are telling parents that if you really want the kids back you all have to help out,” Clark said. “You might want to rethink traveling over the holidays. Hopefully, things will improve, and the vaccine will come out and pushes us in the right direction.”
The Board of Education members discuss the early success of the school district's hybrid learning model amid the coronavirus pandemic during a meeting in September. (Photo courtesy Martin Fiedler, Just Right TV Productions)
The number of close contact cases since Sept. 6 for the school district is 114. There are currently 11 positive COVID-19 cases in the district.
| School |
Student/Staff Placed on Quarantine Status (Close/Direct Contact) |
Positive Cases |
| High School |
81 |
6 |
| Intermediate School |
23 |
5 |
| Primary School |
10 |
0 |
U.S. health officials from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) redefined what counts as close contact with someone with COVID-19 to include briefer, but repeated encounters.
At the start of the outbreak in March, the CDC advised that spending 15 minutes solid within six feet of someone who tested positive for coronavirus could result in infection. However, the CDC changed it to be a total of 15 minutes or more. That includes shorter, but repeated contact that adds up to 15 minutes over a 24-hour period, according to Dr. Taylor's statement.
Anyone within contact of a COVID-19 patient must quarantine for two weeks.
The state Department of Health lists certain requirements for districts on how to handle positive cases as follows. In all cases, parents may direct questions to the school nurses as well as district officials:
- Confirmed case in school.
In this scenario, the school district will consult with the health department to determine whether a short-term closure is necessary.
If schools remain open, people in close contact are excluded from school for 14 days. As per the Department of Health, those classrooms, and spaces, such as the gym and cafeteria, in which a COVID-19 positive individual was in, will be closed for 24 hours before it can be cleaned. Parents will be notified if their child is in contact with a positive person.
- Two or more cases in the same classroom.
In this scenario, the district will consult with the health department to determine whether a short-term closure is necessary. If schools remain open, individuals in close contact are excluded from school for 14 days. Parents will be notified if their child is in contact with a COVID-19 positive person.
- Two or more cases within 14 days within a school building.
In this scenario, the district will consult with the health department to determine whether a closure is necessary. If schools remain open, individuals in close contact are excluded from school for 14 days. If the school is to be closed, parents of children in that school will be notified of the school closure and the length of time.
Statewide School Outbreaks as of Monday: 36 Outbreaks; Cases Linked to School Outbreaks: 146
Cape May County School-Related Outbreaks (Fourth-highest county outbreak in the state): Confirmed Outbreaks: 3; Linked Cases: 10
The definition of an outbreak is two or more confirmed COVID-19 cases among students or staff within a 14-day period, who are linked within the school setting, do not share a household, and were not identified as close contacts of each other in another setting during contact tracing. The other
is through in-school transmission in which students and/or school staff are on school property and are involved in extracurricular activities.
For more information visit the Ocean City School District website at oceancityschools.org.
